life and musings from team robbo

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Back in the day, when we younger, thinner, and less wrinkled, Rich made me a little book: The Book of Truth.

It was filled from cover-to-cover with bible verses which all proclaimed my identity in Christ. I needed my thinking to be reconfigured with God’s truth, and filling my mind with those bible verses was one way that helped to recalibrate my thinking in line with God’s. That’s the simple command that Paul gives in Romans 12 when he tells the church to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Of course the journey continues forever, this side of eternity. There are new aspects of God, and my identity in Him, that I need to re-engage with, or learn afresh, on a regular basis. There are some days where living in God’s truth feels a lot harder than others. I’m guessing maybe you feel the same.

I’ve been thinking about how we are helping our kids to walk in their true identity as God’s kids. We aim to read the bible every evening with our kids. This usually happens. But at the end of a long day, when everyone is feeling a bit cream-crackered, it can sometimes feel like a bit of a ticking-the-box thing, or a passing-on-information-thing. There is definitely some value in this, and the kids are picking up foundational truths. But I know from my own life that if the word isn’t applied, and if it doesn’t take root in my heart, it doesn’t really make any lasting difference: it just remains as head-knowledge.

We want the Holy Spirit to speak to our kids as they read the word, and we want to help equip them to apply God’s truth in their real, everyday, normal life. Because that’s where it has power to bring about transformation.

So a little bit similar to the Book of Truth, we have now developed the Board of Truth. Just outside their room they have a chalkboard – with each of their names written on it. We have been writing little messages next to each name, which has a simple key truth they are currently reading through, or thinking about it in the bible, and how it applies to them right now.

I do not have nice, neat writing, so you probably can’t read very well what I’ve written in the picture below… but this gives the general idea. Esther actually re-worded her “truth” on this one, as she didn’t feel what I’d initially written accurately represented her key truth ( 🙂 )

My hope is that this will help them absorb, and live out more fully what they are learning, rather than forget about it, and move on. It also helps us grown-ups to think more consciously about whether or not we are helping them to apply truth.

It’s just one very simple idea

How about you? – I’d love to hear any creative ways you have as you disciple your kids – we might “borrow” a few of them!

After nearly nine years of raising pre-school children, the third and last chabling is about to leave pre-school and prepare for the big wide world of PROPER school.

I’m not gonna lie: this season brings a whole range of emotions for me.

This week we attended our third and last pre-school graduation.

And as I watched that last little chabling receive his graduation certificate, dressed in cap and gown and smothered in cuteness, I found myself trying hard to hold backthe tears. And I wondered why with this one I was holding back the tears, when with the other two I sobbed shameless snot-faced-tears.

Maybe I was afraid that this time if I released the teary-floodgates I wouldn’t be able to close them.

You see, this time it’s different.

With this one I’m not just releasing himinto a new season. I’m also releasing myself into a new season.

And that’s exciting. And a teensy bit scary as well.

Filled with highs and lows, moments of competence and many more of how-on-earth -am-I-supposed-to-do-this-parenting-thing , this pre-schooler season has been a rollercoaster. And I’ve loved the ride. Not every second of every minute of that ride. But isn’t that just like a real rollercoaster? You come off the ride exhilarated but in the moments when you dip down and your tummy hits the sky it feels more scary than fun. But overall you come off the ride and say that it was FUN.

And this pre-schooler ride has been challenging, and scary, and hopeless at times. But most of all I’m coming off this ride saying it was FUN. And I’m not the same person as I was when I started out on the ride.

So, as I often do in transitional times, I’ve been reflecting on what those years have meant to me and what I’ve learnt along the way.

So here you go… Nine reflections from nine years of pre-schoolers:

1. Change is constant

One thing I’ve noticed with pre-schoolers is that you’re just about getting used to one season just as the new one is ushered in. You’re just getting the hang of breast or bottle feeding and they start eating solids. You’re just getting used to them sitting up and they start crawling. You’ve just about got the hang of looking after one kid and another one shows up. You’ve almost reached a place where they’re content in the buggy and then they go on a buggy board.

Knowing that change is a constant was helpful for me. It just meant I gave up trying to hold too tightly to a particular thing or season. I love change but even for me I needed some constants in shifting seasons. For us the constants were the little routines that we put in place each day that didn’t change – how we did mealtimes or prayers, or bedtime routines. They became the constants in the ever-shifting world of pre-schoolers.

2. You’re never ready

You’re never ready for the emotions that children bring up. You’re never ready for those feelings of inadequacy when newborn crying just won’t cease. You’re never ready for that moment when your kid bites someone else’s kid. You’re never ready for the swelling-heart-pride as you watch them take those first steps. You’re never ready for the echo of their laughter in your heart. You’re never ready. Even with the second and third child you’re never ready.

And yet, somehow, you have to be. And maybe that’s one of the biggest life-lessons for me in this season. I’m the kind of person that never feels ready for anything. I could always feel more equipped, more resourced, more informed. And in most other things in my life I can make a choice to not do something because I don’t feel ready. But with parenting, you have to just choose to be ready.

Even when you don’t feel it.

Even when there isn’t enough information. Even when you feel wobbly. Because a small person is needing you to be ready. It’s scary and liberating all at the same time.

For me, this season has been about going to the One who is always ready. The One who always has enough wisdom, resource, love, forgiveness and patience. Thank you God that you are always ready.

3. You’ve got to walk the journey ahead of them

I’ve talked about this before.… our kids can’t win the ground that we haven’t already taken. In this season we’ve been challenged first to think about how we relate to God when we’ve considered how we want our kids to relate to Him. And then we’ve tried to live and walk that way. When we’ve considered the rhythms and routines we want our kids to walk in, we’ve had to walk in them ourselves first. When we’ve thought about how we want our kids to love others we’ve tried to model that to them. And when we’ve wanted them to see for themselves what it looks like to ask for forgiveness, and to say sorry we’ve had to be the first to do that. We’ve done it all imperfectly. But that’s ok, because integrity is not the same as perfection. We’re living examples not perfect examples.

4. Short-cuts don’t pay off. Nip it in the bud

A quick fix-produces a quick result. But it doesn’t produce a changed heart. There are quick and easy ways to get children to stop crying, whining, shouting, or fighting. But sometimes they’re not the long-lasting ways. Genuine heart repentance and change is not the same as behaviour modification. The first is a long-road, and the latter is a short-cut. Behaviour modification is like trimming the weeds. But genuine repentance pulls the weed out at the root. Trimming the weeds can be done quickly and easily. Pulling out at the root takes longer, and takes a lot more effort.

I’ve tried both.

I know which one I find easier but I also know which technique I’d rather see the fruit of.

5. Every season is the best one…

Someone said this to me when the kids were young. I guess I’ve tried to carry it through with me over the years.

I’ve tried not to eagerly anticipate the next season or wistfully look back to a former one.

If you’re a parent you’ve probably heard countless other (older) parents say “make the most of it.. they’ll be grown up before you know it.” When you’re in the throes of sleepless nights or toddler tantrums it can take all your self-restraint not to throttle someone who gives you those well-meaning words.

But those words are true. Kids grow up. Faster than you think.

And so viewing every season as the best one has been my way of trying to enjoy every moment. Not in an everything-is-wonderful-denial kind of way. Because there are always crappy days and sometimes those days merge into weeks.

But there is good in every season.

6….. Having said that… three under-5’s was a little bit nuts

Yes. It was.

Those were the days when all 3 of them were at home because they hadn’t started school and life felt a little bit hazy. In that pre-schooler-fog, I would wake up some days not really sure of who I was, what I was doing or how I would make it through till bedtime. But I did. And He was faithful.

7. Your reactions become their reactions.

You know that moment when your kid trips up and falls down and then they turn round to look at your face? That’s the moment when they decide how they will respond to the fall. If your face is one of distress and concern their cry will be one of distress and concern. We cottoned on to that pretty quick with our kids so that when they fell we tried to say in a positive tone “up-you-get”, and unless the fall was really bad, that’s what they’d do.

It’s easy to see how your reactions become their reactions in those circumstances. But then there are the more subtle moments. The moments when you’re not quite so aware that they’re watching your reactions. The moments where you feel scared or fearful of something and they’re watching to see how you respond. The moments where someone is unkind to you and they’re watching your face. And your words. And your body language.

It similar to point 3.

Your reactions become their reactions.

8. Never underestimate the power of food, sleep, and cuddles.

When babies are little it’s clear to see that food, sleep and cuddles make all the difference. If they eat and sleep well, and have lots of physical contact they’re pretty much happy. If they don’t, they’re not.

But when they get older they stop just falling asleep when they’re tired, regardless of where they are, and they no longer bawl their eyes out until they’re fed or held. And so it can be easy to forget that the basics of sleep, food and cuddles make the world of difference to a small person. And to a big person, for that matter.

I remember at church we used to talk about the acronym HALT. Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired. We’d say that the more of those you had on your list the more you were prone to make bad choices. It’s no different for kids. The first thing I do if I see difficult or angry behaviour in my kids is to do a mental checklist:

When did they last eat?

Have they had enough sleep?

Have they felt loved? (which may be cuddles, but as they get older it may also be words of affirmation, gifts, quality time, or acts of service to varying degrees depending on which child it is)

Basic needs may seem basic. But they’re needs, not wants, so we can’t underestimate the impact of these things on our kids when there’s an insufficiency in one of them.

9. Parenting has helped me to be a better leader.

When I started out on the parenting journey I thought that I might be missing out, as I focused my attention to the home. But this has been a season of growth for me, not stagnation. The skills you need to be a good parent are the same skills that make a great leader. So this season has not only been about growing in parenting. It’s been about growing in leadership too.

As I look down these nine reflections so many of them are transferable to leadership. Because at the end of the day they’re both about discipleship.

So these are my pre-schooler reflections. How about you – what are yours?

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As he sat quietly in a corner, reading a book, my mum shook her head in disbelief : “We’d never have predicted he’d be like this, would we?”

She was right, of course.

We could never have predicted.

That wild one, two, three, four, five, six, and even sometimes, seven-year old was a very different child to this eight-year old sat in the corner reading a book. He’s still an energetic, untamed, Bear-Grylls-kind-of-boy, but he’s also now a Jesus-loving, book-loving, considerate, and compassionate boy too.

We could never have predicted.

When there were temper-tantrums, spitting, door-slamming, biting, hitting, shouting, I could never have predicted. I could never have predicted this boy sat before me now.

Oh, there are still challenges. Many. He’s a kid (just like our other kids).

But we could never have predicted.

Our kids aren’t meant to be put in boxes. A seemingly shy child can develop into a fully fledged extrovert. And likewise a wild, rambunctious boy can become a book-loving introvert.

And they could change again.

Our job isn’t to box our kids and then to keep them in that box.

Our job is to disciple our kids in how to follow Jesus – helping them to hear and receive the love and words of Jesus for themseves and to live that out in their own lives. And as we love, nurture and disciple them we call out of them the treasure that’s been placed within. Like all of us, our kids are rough diamonds which, as they connect more and more with Jesus, are formed into greater and greater beauty. They need the steady hand and encouragement of a few who will continue to lead them towards Jesus and believe “beyond the predictions”.

My vicar from my teenage years would shake his head in disbelief if he could see my life now.

He could never have predicted.

But I’m here telling this story, as a follower, friend, disciple and lover of Jesus, because a few people chose to believe that I was a rough diamond rather than a lost cause. A handful of people chose to believe that the God of all redemption could bring about His redemptive work even in someone like me. And He did, and He still is.

And so I’m a great believer in rough diamonds. I’m a great believer in the seemingly “lost cause”, the ones “without hope”. I’m a great believer, because I’ve been one of those rough diamonds, and still am. And more importantly, because I’m a great believer in a God who redeems.

I’m a believer in a God who doesn’t just clean us up a bit. I’m a believer in a God who washes away the old and brings in the new. I’m a believer in a God who chips off the rough edges and refines each and every day – for His glory. I’m a believer in potential, because my God is a believer in potential.